Though Indoor Ten has been under construction for over a year, the MTA recently revealed the new entrance to the F train on 42nd Street. It does not look like the much beloved midtown institution will remain with us.

It was 2002. Flip’s Sorry video had just come out. When there was a finite number of skate videos, every nuance became etched in your pre-adolescent brain. You spent time with videos, memorized them, and mimicked them. It wasn’t only the tricks the pros did, or the occasional impression of “Fred’s gay outfit.” Something as mundane as an indoor set of stairs became something to aspire to. Sorry had a few sets of [presumably foreign] indoor stairs.

Two years earlier, Brian Wenning and Anthony Pappalardo revolutionized the way we saw big, fancy steel trashcans — not the wire ones, but ones like they had at Love. Pushing a can against a ledge taller than it validated skating a gap that wasn’t a gap.

And so, the Beer Bar green can gap was born: a five-foot tall ledge with a four-and-a-half foot tall can after it. All you had to do is not go slow, roll off the end, take the impact, and you’d make it. Beer Bar became the new hub for thirteen-year-old skateboarders in New York City. Learned a new trick? “Try it over the can.” There was only one can that mattered.

After much deliberation, the Nosesliders Guild of America has awarded Hjatle Halberg its “Noseslider of the Year” award based on recentoutput. This is an unprecedented event, as no foreigner has ever won the coveted title. Photo above by Mike O’Meally.

QS Sports Desk Play of the Week:What else? Klay Thompson went 13-of-13 from the field (nine of which were contested three-pointers) against the Sacramento Kings earlier this week, in what was an utter video game of a single quarter. He now holds the record for most points in a NBA quarter with 37. The Golden State Warriors will be at Madison Square Garden on Saturday :)

Quote of the Week: “Oh Fifty Shades of Grey, I want to read that when the movie comes out.” — E.J.

(A.K.A. Wachovia or Wells Fargo to you younger guys.) Another view here.

The 49th Street side of the building is under construction, and it looks like the 50th Street side and the long manual pad facing Madison Avenue will be soon. There are somecrummymock-ups on the front of the building that show what lays ahead. It might contain a marble ledge over steps (that’ll inevitably be a bust.) The adjacent Driveway Ledges spot has also been under construction for years, so maybe that will yield something cool :) Thanks to Gerry for the tip.

By most estimations of what a “good” spot is — this place sucked. Chunky ledges that never grinded in their entire history, choppy ground, and a horrible eight stair aren’t the best things midtown has to offer. However, the spot was an anomaly in the neighborhood because it wasn’t a colossal bust. This means that more hours were clocked here than other midtown destinations over the years, simply because it was a last resort before conceding defeat for the night. Only the (also defunct) 45th & Lex Wendy’s can lay claim to logging more skater hours this past decade-and-a-half.

The spot is also notable because Geo Moya maintained a career-long allegiance to skating the awful eight stair here. The landing was into a hill going the wrong way, and that hill was made out of the worst ground ever. Moya’s three lines from Jay Maldonado’s La Luz video remain the only examples of someone refusing to acknowledge how genuinely bad this set was. Add that to Moya’s list of underheralded accomplishments, along with the Times Square 20-stair noseslide, the switch front nose over the Flushing grate in ~2000, and pioneer status as the first known person to attempt the “cherry” ender rail ♥

When was the last non-“Banned From T.V” time you were reminded of Nature’s existence? “Ultimate High” still goes.

The plaza is surrounded by barricades and all of the banks are being torn out from the ground. It was without doubt, the whitest spot in New York City. You’ll be hard pressed to find footage of an Asian, African American, Hispanic or even Native American skateboarder skating here. The banks were tough to skate, the cracks got worse with each passing winter, but it had been a midtown staple for so long with a lower bust factor than any other nearby spot. They weren’t much fun to skate, but at least the spot was photogenic. It’s still sad to see it go. The skateboarders and homeless people who slept here during the summers will miss it. R.I.P.

Who’s the genius responsible for this abomination of concrete work? Way to ruin one of the best ledges at the spot. Lurker Lou recomended the offender serve Jerry Duty: “The act of riding with Mraz, and looking out while he creates masterpieces.”

Ball Forever > Rich Forever. “Party Heart” is a jam though. After all, it does say “featuring 2 Chainz” on it. Someone in the YouTube comments said “All this needed was OutKast” and they are 900% correct.